A Condolence Visit

Posted on by Reena Saxena

A picture on the mantelpiece
glorified with flowers and candles
appears to look at me
from all directions
mocking
my bad memory
I forgot to buy a garland
in my struggle with Google Maps
and finding my way
to this consecrated temple

the unquestioning devotion
the silence of deep sorrow
makes me hunt for words
to eulogize her departed existence
I manage to brush a few memories
appropriate ones to mention
and quietly bury the hatchet
for things I did not like
-It does not matter any more

I cannot but envy
the love she generated
the void she left
in the lives of her loved ones
It feels like an achievement
for someone so limited in outlook
but she was born lucky
I tell myself….

Death lit up a halo
on her gilt-edged memories.

Poetics: Borrowing Bishop

27 thoughts on “A Condolence Visit”

  1. ‘I manage to brush a few memories
    appropriate ones to mention
    and quietly bury the hatchet
    for things I did not like
    -It does not matter any more

    ‘Death lit up a halo
    on her gilt-edged memories.’

    Touching and honest condolence message, Reena. Superbly written.

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  2. Old people often garner an assumption of wisdom and kindliness which is often undeserved and someone who has died is even more likely to be accorded an uncritical reverence – you negotiate the grey areas, the mixture of good and bad which is a more realistic appraisal of all of us, so well, Reena…

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  8. Brilliant, Reena. An unflinching look at the deceased and the living, the one who lives on to assess and remark the good and the fell, who wrestles with uncomfortable emotions and let death’s halo have the last word.

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  9. This is a quietly powerful and deeply introspective poem. The opening image of the mantelpiece—watchful, almost accusatory—immediately sets a tone of uneasy intimacy, where memory, guilt, and ritual intertwine. Your honesty about forgetting, about mixed feelings, and about the struggle to eulogize without pretense gives the poem its emotional integrity.

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  10. A poignant and moving poem, Reena, and full of detail. I love the way you began with the picture on the mantelpiece before focusing on the person in the picture and their effect on the speaker in the poem.

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